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Contradictory Belief and Epistemic Closure Principles
Author(s) -
Frances Bryan
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
mind and language
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.905
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1468-0017
pISSN - 0268-1064
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0017.00110
Subject(s) - ascription , epistemology , philosophy , closure (psychology) , superman , art , economics , market economy , art history
Kripke’s puzzle has put pressure on the intuitive idea that one can believe that Superman can fly without believing that Clark Kent can fly. If this idea is wrong then many theories of belief and belief ascription are built from faulty data. I argue that part of the proper analysis of Kripke’s puzzle refutes the closure principles that show up in many important arguments in epistemology, e.g. if S is rational and knows that P and that P entails Q, then if she considers these two beliefs and Q, she is in a position to know that Q.